Neither have I but here’s where I see Twisted Sister… they got in at the right time. MTV loved their safe, but rebellious videos and sound. Your parents would let you go to a TS concert when saying no to Judas Priest
Twisted Sister was smart to put the db from Animal House in their videos. Animal House was HUGE in the early days of US cable… showtime and the Movie Channel ran it all the time, So with MTV showing TS videos kids just loved them
It was all enough for one successful album and then ugh….
Haha. Yeah that’ll happen.
If you’re not ready for a slayer pit you should probably avoid it, they’re not compatible with out lousy health care system.
Shout out to Dokken. Great, solid, melodic hair metal. A buddy of mine, Neil Kernon, produced a couple of their best albums (Back for the Attack, Under Lock and Key), as well as Queensryche’s “Rage for Order”, but I really liked those albums and their killer production before I ever met the guy, so …
But then, the guy’s done literally hundreds of albums, everything from Hall and Oates to Cannibal Corpse, so it’s no surprise his productions slap.
Oh, also I was into a (relatively) local Shrapnel Records act back in the day, Racer-X. Melodic hair metal on extremely technical speed.
AIC were unknowns then, hence the opening slot. The other bands rotated slots each night, so when I saw them Megadeth were the closers, Anthrax in the middle, Slayer “opened”. I almost lost consciousness in the pit during “War Ensemble” LOL
I saw the first or second Thrones gig (ex Melvins bassist, 1 man band bass and sequencer). He played in a laundromat in Seattle and the whole set was Dokken covers. It was amazing!
Also - Can’t forget Japan’s first two albums - more glam rock than hair metal, but I think they partially influenced Hanoi Rocks (along with the NY Dolls).
Some of these are, I guess, hair metal (which always seemed a more appropriate term for your Warrants and Poisons and Wingers) but I just consider them solid rock bands with killer songs.
That Scorpions run from Lovedrive through Love at First Sting is masterful.
Def Leppard’s first four albums are textbook with just top notch writing.
Motley Crue Too Fast For Love is the best proto hair metal record of them all and genuinely ROCKS and is pretty punk, actually,
Ratt’s first two records are solid AF,
Of course Judas Priest from Hell Bent through Painkiller is quite the pinnacle of the genre.
Not sure if Maiden were hair metal or Van Halen or Metallica for that matter other than they played metal and had long hair, but they ruled. Especially Metallica from Kill ‘’em All through Master. That’s the metal gold standard right there.
There were many other bands I loved back then (puberty in the early 80s rise of the genre…I didn’t stand a chance, metal changed my life) but I’d say so much if it was really really good until things went rapidly downhill after Slippery When Wet, which I fucking hated then and maybe hate even more now.
